For your fingers, that is.
Most fingerstyle players would prefer to fingerpick using their natural nails. This method gives you the most direct contact with the strings, and natural nails have a good attack and produce a good tone on the string. But natural fingernails wear down, crack, chip and tear which makes them undependable. Murphy’s Law says anything that might go wrong will go wrong, and this is particularly true of fingernails. If you are a fingerstyle player with an important gig or recording session coming up, you are statistically likely to break a critical nail right before go-time.
Problem – meet fingerpicks!
Fingerpicks are steel or plastic picks that attach to the ends of your fingers and thumb. They enable you to pluck the strings fingerstyle whether or not your nails are in good shape. When you first put them on they feel alarmingly foreign, but they feel quite natural once you adjust your fingerpicking style and use them awhile.
One big drawback to me of most fingerpicks is that they cover your fingertips. This eliminates direct contact with the string and also adds an annoying sound as the hard surfaces touch the strings. So I was very happy the day my bandmate in New York City turned me on to Pro-Pik Finger-Tone fingerpicks.
The unique shape of the Pro-Pik F-Tone fingerpick allows the front of your fingertip to touch the strings while the loop-shaped pick provides the attack of a fingernail that never wears down! The sound they produce is by far the closest to natural fingernails that I’ve ever heard and the adjustment time for playing with fingerpicks is considerably reduced. Despite their fragile appearance, these fingerpicks are strong and long-lasting. The only way I’ve ever damaged one is by accidentally stepping on it!
Having bionic fingertips increases your confidence because you don’t have to worry about damaging your fingernails while you play so you can attack the strings harder, producing more volume and increasing your dynamic range.
The fingerpicks come in Medium and Large sizes. The Mediums easily fit my somewhat slender fingers and still have room to adjust larger. They also offer your choice of single-wrap or split-wrap bands. I recommend the split-wrap for maximum adjustability and the firmest fit.
Pro-Pik also makes a matching metal thumb pick and a metal-plastic thumb pick. The plastic version produces the most natural thumbnail sound. For the record, I use fingerpicks on my first two fingers and use my natural thumbnail to play. But I encourage you to try out both kinds of thumb picks when you begin your Pro-Pik experience.
Find them here.